#region Copyright & License

//
// Copyright 2001-2005 The Apache Software Foundation
//
// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
// You may obtain a copy of the License at
//
// http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
//
// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
// limitations under the License.
//

#endregion

using log4net.Core;

namespace log4net.Appender {
  /// <summary>
  /// Implement this interface for your own strategies for printing log statements.
  /// </summary>
  /// <remarks>
  /// <para>
  /// Implementors should consider extending the <see cref="AppenderSkeleton"/>
  /// class which provides a default implementation of this interface.
  /// </para>
  /// <para>
  /// Appenders can also implement the <see cref="IOptionHandler"/> interface. Therefore
  /// they would require that the <see cref="IOptionHandler.ActivateOptions()"/> method
  /// be called after the appenders properties have been configured.
  /// </para>
  /// </remarks>
  /// <author>Nicko Cadell</author>
  /// <author>Gert Driesen</author>
  public interface IAppender {
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets the name of this appender.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>The name of the appender.</value>
    /// <remarks>
    /// <para>The name uniquely identifies the appender.</para>
    /// </remarks>
    string Name { get; set; }

    /// <summary>
    /// Closes the appender and releases resources.
    /// </summary>
    /// <remarks>
    /// <para>
    /// Releases any resources allocated within the appender such as file handles, 
    /// network connections, etc.
    /// </para>
    /// <para>
    /// It is a programming error to append to a closed appender.
    /// </para>
    /// </remarks>
    void Close();

    /// <summary>
    /// Log the logging event in Appender specific way.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="loggingEvent">The event to log</param>
    /// <remarks>
    /// <para>
    /// This method is called to log a message into this appender.
    /// </para>
    /// </remarks>
    void DoAppend(LoggingEvent loggingEvent);
  }
}